2018 NBA Southeastern Division Odds

We’re down to a two team race in the Southeast division between the Washington Wizards and Miami Heat. There is a lot of season left, but it’s starting to look like this is the Heat’s division to lose.

The big reason for that is the loss of John Wall for the Wizards. He’ll be out for the next couple of months and this team had depth issues before he went down. Markieff Morris hasn’t been playing as good as they would’ve liked, Marcin Gortat is getting older and a lot of the weight of this team is going to fall on the shoulders of Bradley Beal and Otto Porter. That would be fine under normal circumstances, but the Wizards have one of the most difficult schedules upcoming of any team in the NBA. This could turn out bad.

Miami has been solid this year and since they’ve gotten healthy have played much better. They still lack a star of the quality of Beal or Wall, but they are a very solid and well coached team. Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside are having great seasons and this is a team that will always play hard and defend hard. They have a half game lead on the Wizards right now that should only widen going forward.

2018 Southeast Division – Odds to Win

Washington Wizards-110

Miami Heat-110

Updated: 2/1/2018

Best Sportsbooks to bet NBA Futures

As the season grows closer we’ll take a look at each division’s betting odds and try to build a better picture of the 2018 NBA season. We started with the Atlantic and Central divisions in the Eastern Conference and now finish up the East with the Southeast division.

The Miami Heat are scary though. We all remember how they finished last season, just barely missing the playoffs. They were one of the best teams in the NBA over the last couple of months of the season and it’s going to be interesting to see how it translates this season. Goran Dragic, Dion Waiters and Hassan Whiteside are all back and this season they should have a healthy Justise Winslow.

Of course, there are some who would argue that he was the issue last season and losing him made them good. That’s a bit unfair, but he has been a liability on offense while being amazing at defense. His progression is key for this team to make the leap. The team also added Kelly Olynyk to help with spacing and shooting off the bench. He will pair well and this team is nothing if not deep. I could see them making a run at the Wizards, but only if the Wizards disappoint.

The bottom two teams in this conference are headed for the lottery. The Atlanta Hawks threw in the towel and now Dennis Schroeder is the best player on the team. That’s not a bad thing, that’s just a long ways away from where this team was just two seasons ago.

Orlando could be even worse. Their roster is a mess of good potential with flaws. Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier, Mario Hezonja and Elfrid Payton are interesting pieces who could be something in this league, but thus far they haven’t really worked together. Throw in too many big men (with Nikola Vucevic and Bismack Biyombo signed to big contracts) and this team should be headed toward the lottery. Whether they want to or not.